The national charity for new music

British Council Travel Grant

Sound and Music are pleased to have been able to run the British Council Travel grant with the British Council last year, as both organisations are very aware of a need for this kind of support for composers. However, the future of the programme has depended on securing funding and unfortunately we will not be able to continue the programme in its current form.

Jobina Tinnemans is a cross-genre contemporary composer. Non-musicians oftenmake part of her work, who, by their activity, create a rhythm or sound secondary totheir action, for the particular timing it generates.Her winning 2013 MATA commission 'Killing Time' included, as part of the classicalensemble, prepared knitting needles which functioned as an organic non-linearsequencing sampler.'Shakespeare and Hedgeshear’ (2007), composed for a disused gasometer,involved two table-tennis teams and three hedge-trimming performers.

Sound And Music selected this work to represent the British section of the 'ISCM Wroclaw World Music Days 2014'. The British Council Travel Grant enables Jobina to attend this performance.

Sam Salem

Sam Salem (b. 1982) currently resides in Leeds (UK), having completed a PhD in Composition at

the University of Manchester in 2011. His work is focussed upon the sounds of urban environments: each of his pieces focuses upon a
specific geographical location. His music aspires to illuminate and explore the hidden musicality
and beauty of his geographical subjects, as well as his own relationship to his environment as both a
source of inspiration and musical material. He has undertaken a number of creation residencies at institutions around the world, including EMS
(Stockholm, 2013-2014) and La Muse En Circuit (Paris, 2012-2013). He has also been
nominated and awarded in a number of international composition competitions, including:
Concours Luc Ferrari (2012, Winner), Luigi Russolo Competition (2012, Audience Award),
Metamorphoses (2012, Nomination). Sam is co-director of the Distractfold Ensemble and currently teaches at Leeds College of Music.

Sam will use the British Council Travel Grant in order to attend Festival Mixtur 2014 in Barcelona. The event will take place in April and will feature his work 'Dérive'.

Jack White

Jack White is a Welsh composer who has been an
'Embedded' composer on Sound and Music's scheme since 2012 when his orchestral
piece 'Digital Dust' was premiered by BBC Symphony Orchestra (www.jacknotchris.com). Recently
Jack has been working on choral music and enjoyed hearing his latest work 'Islands (Ynysoedd)' performed in Southwark Cathedral alongside a premiere from the late Sir John Tavener.

The travel grant will allow Jack to travel to Umeå International Choral Festival in Sweden as part of the European Capital of Culture 2014 (17-21 June). This will present a significant opportunity for the composer to present his work to European audiences.

Ophir Ilzetzki

A composer of experimental music by calling and lecturer by vocation, Ophir is also the curator of Anechoic Transmissions – an independent radio-production house dedicate to shedding light on the extremes of non-commercial music throughout genres. Ophir’s music is published by the Surrism-Phonoethics net-label, and his scores are distributed online by BabelScores. Ophir currently teaches at the University of East Anglia and resides in Norwich, UK. For more
information, visit Ophir Ilzetzki’s homepage: www.ophirilzetzki.com

In April 2014, with support from the British Council Travel Grant, Ophir will give lectures at the universities of Tel Aviv and Haifa where he will discuss the varied use of structured improvisation in his scores.

Michael Betteridge

Michael studied at both the University of Manchester where he was awarded the Hargreaves Prize for composition, and the Royal Northern College of Music. His music has won various awards and has been performed at numerous venues nationally. This year will see performances of his music in America and Spain, as well as a London Symphony Orchestra performance of Serenade with Collectives & Curiosities a group he co-founder with composer Jacob Thompson-Bell. Michael also practises as an animateur and teacher having worked for the LSO, BCMG, BBC Philharmonic and Opera North. He is musical director for Cantare Ladies Choir and the Greater Manchester Police Male Voice Choir (GMPMVC), as well as 'New Space Productions' with whom he has produced two site-specific musicals including the restaurant-based Indigestion which has seen performances in Manchester and London. You can follow Michael on twitter on @mbetteridge and visit his website: www.michaelbetteridge.com

Michael has been commissioned to write a short song for soprano, mezzo-soprano and piano. With a text by collaborator Derek Martin the work will be performed by Catrin Woodruff (soprano), Rosie Middleton (mezzo) and, organiser of the project, Pilar Beltran (piano) in Murcia, Spain.

Michael Betteridge has since been chosen as one of Sound and Music's 2015 New Voices. To view Michael's profile click here. If you'd like to know more about Sound and Music's New Voices scheme click here to visit the British Music Collection website.

Tom Green

Mentioned three times as Jazzwise magazine’s “One to Watch 2014”, Tom is a trombonist, composer and arranger who has directed his own groups on national and international tours, performing at venues including Ronnie Scott's, the Vortex Jazz Club and 606 Club, as well as the Montreux, Toronto and Montreal Jazz Festivals. Winner of the 2013 Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition, he is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is recording his debut album in 2014 with his Septet, and has performed alongside musicians including Iain Ballamy, Kit Downes, Gareth Lockrane, and Mike Gibbs.

Tom is key participant in a large scale project in Tunisia for International Jazz Day 2014 at the end of April, a multinational program involving the Tom Green Septet, participants from the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra in New York, and the Jazz Club de Tunis.

13 January 2014 - Call for applications now closed

The call for applications for the British Council Travel Grant are now closed. We shall be announcing the successful applicants in early 2014.

16 December 2013 - Call for applications for the British Council Travel Grant

This programme has been developed to enable composers to attend or perform at overseas events, covering costs of up to £1000.

The principal aim of the British Council is to build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide. Within this broad framework, the Music Department of the British Council is concerned with the promotion and presentation of British contemporary music in order to demonstrate its quality and vitality.

The British Council Travel Grant, in partnership with Sound and Music, is designed to help promote British contemporary music by assisting professional composers, who are resident in the UK, to travel overseas to attend or perform significant presentations of their work.

The scheme is administered with guidance from members of a panel, drawn from the British Council, Sound and Music and various other arts organisations with a focus on music and sound. Additional support, including grant administration, is provided by Sound and Music.

The scheme is open to composers for whom attendance at an important overseas performance of their work will make a demonstrable difference to his/her career. Please see the ‘guidelines’ document for more information on the eligibility criteria. Applications may be submitted by the composers themselves, or, on their behalf, by a professional representative. (Please ensure that all composers have been made aware that an application has been made on their behalf.)

What can I get help with and what are the conditions?

Applicants may request assistance in meeting the composer’s travel costs where the composer’s presence at an overseas event would make a demonstrable difference to his/her career. NB: Grants may cover the full amount requested or may only amount to a contribution towards these costs.

Bursaries are not given to assist with either the production or presentation costs of the work, nor are grants given to assist with subsistence costs.

Overseas venues/festivals/promoters are expected to meet all costs in connection with the performance/presentation. In addition, overseas venues are expected to contribute towards the composer’s subsistence costs where their presence is considered important or essential. This bursary will not cover any subsistence costs.

Applicants should avoid entering into any advance commitments in the belief that a bursary will be made. The British Council will not be bound by any commitments made before applications are considered.